Home & Cooking Guide

So How Do You Keep Disposal Running Well?

Following good practices with your garbage disposal today can save you a lot of money in the future. Consider why you get a garbage disposal, the point is efficiency. Time is money and if you reduce the amount of time you spend working in the kitchen you’re saving time for you to do something else. However, if you follow bad practices with your disposal unit you might end up having to pay costly plumbing bills that will defeat the purpose of getting the disposal in the first place, so pay attention to these do’s and don’ts.

Keep the unit clean to avoid bacteria build up, use some dish soap in the unit and let it run for a while. You’ve heard the expression move it or lose it? Make sure you utilize your garbage disposal often or you will risk rusts and breakage of parts. When you get oils down your regular drain people often know that they should run hot water to keep the oils from solidifying that way they can get out to the regular system so they don’t clog your drain.

With a garbage disposal however you’re going to want to run cold water while dumping food into it that way any oils that are present will solidify immediately and be chopped up by the disposal unit, otherwise liquid oils will solidify in your trap beyond the reach of the disposer. Absolutely don’t be afraid of using the garbage disposal on chicken bones and fish bones as well as other hard materials like egg shells, fruit pits, or the hard outside of a watermelon. The scoring that occurs inside the disposal unit from tearing apart these hard items actually helps to keep it clean, so make it do work. If you use too much soft stuff and never put hard materials into it, the disposal could technically clog up over time. Make sure that you cut large items into smaller pieces if you can. Put these pieces into the garbage disposal slowly one at a time rather than allowing them to all bunch up together, you’re far less likely to get jamming and jarring to occur this way.

What About What You Shouldn’t Do?

Every plumber has heard a story about people putting something ridiculous down their toilet and putting something absolutely absurd into their garbage disposal. As per disposalmag.com, the common name we use for a garbage disposal really is a misnomer because while it is a “garbage disposal” it really is a food disposer and I suppose some people forget that. The number one thing you need to remember is that you never put anything in your garbage disposal that isn’t biodegradable waste. Your garbage disposal is not a replacement for your trash can, if you have any questions about if an item can go in the disposal, then just assume it can’t and toss it in the trash instead. Absolutely do not put anything combustible into your disposal unit, don’t grind up hard materials such as metal, plastic or glass. Don’t even grind up paper, wet paper will turn pulpy and will become almost like glue. You can imagine what that is going to do to your system. Don’t purposely pour grease or fats into your disposal system. The system can take care of small coincidental amounts of oil and fats from your meat waste, but you should allow fats to solidify on their cooking surfaces and then toss them in your trash after they cool. When dealing with the coincidental fats and oils that get into your disposal, make sure that you’re always running cold water down the drain, never use hot water. If you do you’ll liquify any oils that are in the system and allow them to sneak through the system so they can solidify at the trap causing blockages. Read more tips about home improvement!

If you follow these simple rules like written in Wikihow, you should be well on your way to using your garbage disposal properly.